J A L A N D H A R    E D I T I O N

Drunken cop injures 4 school kids in accident
Jalandhar, January 28 Five persons, including four school students, were injured when a car, approaching from the opposite direction, collided head-on with an auto-rickshaw in which they were traveling. The incident occurred near the Gulab Devi Hospital, here today. A critically injured child being attended to at a private hospital in Jalandhar on Thursday. Tribune photo: Malkiat Singh

Drug woes for thalassaemic kids of Doaba, Majha
Tablets available in Chandigarh only
Jalandhar, January 28
Thalassaemic kids in the Doaba and Majha regions are bearing an additional burden of travelling to Chandigarh because of the non-availability of an essential drug required during the treatment of the disease here.

Protest bears fruit, chemist admits selling habit-forming drugs
Jalandhar, January 28
A chemist located in the New Beant Nagar, who was allegedly accused of selling prohibited drugs in the area, finally confessed his indulgence in the sale of ‘habit-forming’ drugs. He was also forced by the group of residents to write a declaration that the shop would be shifted from this locality in the coming 10 days.

Fake paper fraud for student visas unearthed
Amritsar, January 28
A serious, fraudulent way to facilitate obtaining a student visa for studies abroad today came to light when visa formalities were furnished by forging bank receipts and registration papers. Soon after the matter was brought to the notice of the police, an enquiry was marked.

Drunken cop injures 4 school kids in accident
Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, January 28
Five persons, including four school students, were injured when a car, approaching from the opposite direction, collided head-on with an auto-rickshaw in which they were traveling. The incident occurred near the Gulab Devi Hospital, here today.

Students of Dayanand Model School were traveling in an auto when a car, driven by police personnel, coming from the opposite direction collided head-on leading to the mishap.

The car driver, Sukhvinder Singh, is posted with the vigilance of Hoshiarpur police and was driving the vehicle allegedly in an inebriated condition, along with his two fellow men.

Sheesh Nischal, Ekagar Sharma, Paramjot Singh alias Dev and Kishu, all students of the school, were injured. The auto driver, Bittu, also received injuries in the accident.

The injured students were rushed to different private hospitals.

Station house officer, police station division No-1, Nirmal Singh said the car driver has been arrested and a case of rash and negligent driving has been registered against him.

The police will get him medically examined. The condition of the injured is said to be stable.

Drug woes for thalassaemic kids of Doaba, Majha
Tablets available in Chandigarh only
Amaninder Pal
Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, January 28
Thalassaemic kids in the Doaba and Majha regions are bearing an additional burden of travelling to Chandigarh because of the non-availability of an essential drug required during the treatment of the disease here.

Children suffering from thalassaemia are forced to travel to Chandigarh just to get a few tablets of the drug, which is essential to clear out the extra amount of toxic iron which accumulates in the patient’s body after several cycles of blood transfusion. Situation turns out to be more pitiable as most of the patients belong to the lower middle class.

Iron, which is a byproduct of disintegration of transfused blood, starts accumulating in the body of thalassaemic children after few transfusions. A drug, which eliminates this extra iron, is unavailable in nearly all districts of Doaba and Majha region, including Jalandhar, where a separate Thalassaemic Ward has 64 thalassaemic kids on its rolls. Extra iron, if accumulates, causes poisoning and leads to the situation, which is medically termed as haemosiderosis.

As per information, the drug is available only on the prescription of child specialists posted at the PGIMER, Chandigarh, DMCH and CMCH, Ludhiana. “Drug costs around Rs 40 per tablet approximately and the patient has to take it once in a day. In addition to this cost, which turns out nearly Rs 1,200-1,500 per month, kids and their parents need to go to Chandigarh every month. Ironically, the drug is available only at one or two shops in Chandigarh,” said T.S. Bahtia, who is president of the local Thalassaemic Children Welfare Society.

“We are providing blood totally free of cost as some families are literally hand to mouth. Instead of providing them free medicine along with blood, we are compelled to direct them to go to Chandigarh,” he added.

However, experts in the PGI said the Drug Controller Authority of India specified some experts in the state. “A few doctors in the state are authorised to prescribe the drug as regular monitoring of patients taking these drugs is mandatory. Though no major adverse effects have been noticed, monitoring is essential,” said Dr R.K. Marwaha, senior child specialist of the PGIMER.

A stockist of one of the prestigious pharmaceutical company, located in Chandigarh, also revealed that drug is available only in Chandigarh.

Dr Jugesh Chhatwal of the CMCH, who is treating thalassaemic patients, also confirmed that the drug was not easily available in the city and patients need to go to Chandigarh to get the drug.

However, doctors find hardly any weight in the unavailability of the drug in this region, by just citing regular monitoring a reason. “I don’t know whether this is a decision of the DCAI or of pharmaceuticals companies itself. However, regular monitoring is advised as chances of occurrence of adverse effects like hearing impairment and liver toxicity are there after taking these drugs. But how far justified is it that a paediatrician with 15-20 years cannot prescribe this drug. Moreover, specialists posted in civil hospitals can also do monitoring for suspected adverse effects of these drugs,” said a senior neonatologist, Dr Balbir Singh, posted in the local Civil Hospital.

It is learnt that thalassaemic kids, undergoing treatment in government-run hospitals, may get the drug free of cost under the school health programme in near future. However, doctors are of the view that nearly half of the kids are not in the category of “school-going children”.

Protest bears fruit, chemist admits selling habit-forming drugs
Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, January 28
A chemist located in the New Beant Nagar, who was allegedly accused of selling prohibited drugs in the area, finally confessed his indulgence in the sale of ‘habit-forming’ drugs. He was also forced by the group of residents to write a declaration that the shop would be shifted from this locality in the coming 10 days.

In a declaration written in the presence of councilor Hardeep Kaur, Secretary Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee Gurnam Singh Multani and hundreds of residents of New Beant Nagar, Mehtab Nagar, Ekta Vihar, Mohan Vihar and Gulbarg Avenue, owner of the shop confessed that he was involved in the sale of prohibited drugs.

He also confessed that the license, which is mandatory to be issued in the name of the shop owner, is not issued in his name but in the name of his brother-in-law.

Residents of New Beant Nagar forcibly closed the shutters of his shop while alleging that the sale of prohibited drugs was creating an anti-social environment in the locality. Both police and health officials were given intimation of the matter.

“If the shop owner does not shift his shop in the next 10 days, we will be left with no other option than to protest in front of higher administration, police and health authorities,” said the President of New Beant Nagar Welfare Society Ram Nath.

Fake paper fraud for student visas unearthed
P K Jaiswar
Tribune News Service

Amritsar, January 28
A serious, fraudulent way to facilitate obtaining a student visa for studies abroad today came to light when visa formalities were furnished by forging bank receipts and registration papers.

Soon after the matter was brought to the notice of the police, an enquiry was marked.

Elaborating the fraud, Naresh Sharma, BJP leader and former councilor, who complained about the matter to the police, said the culprits have forged bank receipts of stamp papers and duplicate registration papers of a property have been obtained, only to be submitted to the embassy for visa formalities.

Confirming this, the city SSP PK Rai said an enquiry has been marked in this case and the outcome would be ascertained only after the verification of documents submitted with us.

The scam came to light when papers submitted by wrong doers to the foreign embassy were presented to the district administration for verification.

“The matter was highlighted when the district administration received the papers of the property by the Australian embassy, it was revealed only then that no property was in the name of the persons mentioned,” said Naresh Sharma.

The papers related to the case testify that the two receipts carrying the same serial number bearing fake stamps of the bank were issued in different names with different amount and for different properties.

Sharma has also forwarded the copy of the forged papers to Principal Secretary, Home Affairs and Judiciary, Finance Commissioner, Director Land Record, local Deputy Commissioner and others.